Weekly Round-Up: The Father’s Day Edition

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I’ve wanted to share with you. Don’t forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below.

It’s good to be back with you again! Those of you who travel and speak at conferences know just how exhausting this work is. It’s rewarding and fulfilling, but if you are like me it’s easy to forget self-care when you are doing this work which is why Karin‘s latest post on the necessity of self-care was an important read for me this week.

This weekend is Father’s Day and Beth writes a touching post on the occasion of her first Father’s Day without her beloved Dad. Beth’s grief is still raw having lost her father so recently, and though it’s not so long since Nancy lost her own Dad, she offers words of comfort and support to those who are grieving this Father’s Day. See also Catherine‘s latest post on the natural ebb and flow of grief.

Continuing with the theme of much-loved Fathers, Elizabeth‘s words on losing her father bit by bit are achingly beautiful.

When I visit my dad these days, it is like he is floating away into increasing darkness, like we are losing him bits at a time. On some days, there are more glimpses of the person I recognize as him. There is more light and less shadow. …. It occurs to me today that until my dad is dead, he is alive. His shadows are his life as much as the light is his life. This is hard to accept, this new, and ever changing reality. But I will keep sitting with it, sitting with him in the specter of life.

Yvonne also writes beautifully of watching on helplessly as a loved one slips away, as she writes, “Goodbye is the emptiest yet fullest of all human messages.” Something that Becky is now facing as her Mom’s health deteriorates.

With the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, there has been much talk on social media about depression and mental health. One of the best I’ve read is Steve Safran’s guest post on Britt’s blog. “We can’t stop suicide and depression,” he writes, “but we can understand it a lot better.” Another excellent post on the topic is Connie‘s latest blog, Sad Stories Along The Road.

Please join me in sending healing thoughts to Audreyas she undergoes a serious operation this week.

Being a fan of finding health information online doesn’t make me blind to its downside – a topic tackled by Barbara on Let Life Happen.

Susan Rahn is stepping up her MBC advocacy role with METUP – find out more about how you can add your voice by reading her blog.

Katie shares some very interesting observations from her recent attendance at a cancer conference. The one I most agree with? Cancer doesn’t make some of us better a better person!

Breast reconstruction complications are possible as is the case with any surgery. A possible complication in breast reconstruction is the development of a seroma. In Terri‘s latest post, she looks at the pre and post-operative assessment of seromas after autologous or implant-based breast reconstruction.

A wonderful post by Tanessaon A Fresh Chapter’s blog on the power of stories and patient advocacy.

Patient advocacy is a topic close to my heart and yours I know and I want to give another shout-out this week to Siobhan and the work she is doing to raise awareness of dense breasts and mammography in Ireland.

Deeprovides a recap of tweets from the recent ASCO meeting and both Drs Deannaand Elaine shares the results of the TAILORs trial reported on at ASCO. The TAILORx trial evaluated a pathology test called OncotypeDx (Genomics Health), which predicts risk of recurrence, and found the test to be reliable.

Important discussion by Chris this week on the ethics of withholding treatment information from patients.

We’ve all been subject to a cringe-worthy cliche from a “well-wisher” – something that Ilene writes about in her latest blog.

How do you learn to love your body when it’s trying to kill you? Great question and a great answer from Robyn on The Underbellyblog.

Even after eight years have passed, Wendi still deals with scanxiety and the thoughts expressed in her latest post will resonate with many of us. See also Stephanie‘s post on why scanxiety is more than anxiety.

Becki tackles the topic of pregnancy after breast cancer in her latest post.

What does it take to be a carer? The Cancer Carer Chats blog answers by sharing their own perspective.

So wonderful to read Kay‘s account of attending a lecture by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. I am also ever so slightly jealous Kay got her picture taken with the good doctor 🙂

Finally this week I’d like to introduce a new blog to the round-up – Habitual Gratitude. Thanks to Nancy for alerting me to Lisa Valentine’s lovely blog dedicated to building a better perception of self and surrounding world through regular practice of gratitude.

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Brother David Steindl-Rast

". . .and the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and JOYFUL, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home."
Wendell Berry